Reality Check!
by FeatherClaw of Windclan
Summary: When Haruhi is assigned to work on a social studies assignment with Kyoya, she thinks nothing of it until she finds out that they will be playing a married couple with one child! What will happen to their relationship in the club? HaruhixKyoya
1. Chapter 1

**AUTHOR's NOTE, 5/10- I went back and edited this. Now we have a better, pimped out version of chapter one. I also corrected some spelling errors. ^^;;**

Haruhi stared at the board, squinting to see what was scrawled in dry erase marker at the top. Seeing as she had accidentally left her glasses in the music room, she had been spending the entire day without. So far, she had managed in her other classes, seeing as she sat relatively close to the board, but she was having a bit of trouble in social studies, seeing as she sat in the third to last row.

The bearded professor at the front stepped back, moving to the side so that they could see what he had written. Haruhi squinted again, but still couldn't see it. She normally would have been alright without her classes, seeing as she liked to wear contacts under them, but she had run out of contacts today, so Tamaki had had to run to the general store to get some. Until then, he had told her that she'd have to wear her old glasses.

This was it. She realized that no matter how hard she tried, she more than likely wasn't going to be seeing that board anytime soon unless she moved up front. So, she grabbed her stuff and moved up to one of the desks that was closest to the board--there was an immediate change for the positive.

The words Reality Check were scribbled onto the board, and off to the side were some financial vocabulary words. They had been studying finances for the past week or so, and Haruhi remembered Mr. Yoshima repeatedly telling them that it would all make sense after they entered the reality check program. However, the man had failed to explain what it was the entire time.

The man looked around the room again, and when he was sure that everybody had read what he had written he began to explain. "In the reality check program, you will be assigned a partner from a random grade level, and you will be drawing a random job from the bucket the next day. The goal of the game is to go through all of the booths tomorrow and have money left over."

_Oh. _In her opinion, it would have made things a lot easier for both of them, the class and the teacher, if he had explained that from the start. Apparently, though, he thought that leaving them all bewildered would help stoke .

Haruhi saw Hikaru and Kaoru whispering to each other out of the corner of her eye, probably discussing who they thought that they might get paired with. As for her, part of her wanted it to be someone from the host club, but the other hand, that could mean embarrassment...Especially if that member was Tamaki, seeing as he would not uncommonly go into what she affectionately called Tamaki breakdown mode.

She suddenly realized that had started talking again while she was staring off into space, so she quickly moved her attention back to the board. "...Your partners will be pulled from their classes to join you on Monday when you go through the program, although you might want to discuss with them in advance before the program starts. You'll be drawing random names in a few minutes, and no trading."

_No trading. _That was great. With her luck, she would probably get stuck with somebody like Renge for her project and would be unable to trade her misfortune off to anyone else.

Their teacher went back to his desk to get the strips of paper ready, and in that time the class volume level moved back into a low roar again. Hikaru quickly got up, moving to the empty desk next to hers. "So, who do you think you're going to get?", he asked, raising an eyebrow. Kaoru moved to the seat next to his twin, also leaning on the metal bar that attached the chair to the table part of it.

"I don't know...", she started, shrugging and moving a strand of hair out of her eyes, "What about you?"

"I don't know, either...But I hope it's someone from the club." He said. As demonstrated many times before, the twins had an aversion to what and who they considered outsiders our outsider concepts. Therefore, they were, unsurprisingly, hoping for somebody that was part of what they classified as 'us'.

"I second that.", Kaoru added. Before she could respond to what he had said, the teacher strode to the front with the bucket of names and gestured for the twins to return to their seats.

"Alright. Who would like to draw first. Anyone?" He looked around the room. Finally, a girl in the back got up hesitantly, drawing one of the strips of paper. She read it silently, putting it in her pocket and then excitedly whispering to the others that sat around her when she got back to her desk.

Apparently she had gotten a partner that she could tolerate to some degree, maybe Haruhi would, too. At least, she sure hoped so...

"Haruhi, please come forward and draw.", the teacher said, making a sweeping gesture towards the bucket. She crossed her fingers as she put her hand in, digging around in the pile of paper strips until she found one that felt right and shoving it into her pocket.

When she got back to her desk, she opened it–to her deep relief, the name scrawled across it in 's handwriting was familiar. _Kyoya Ohtori_. Well, at least she knew she wasn't going to fail...However, Kyoya's reaction she did wonder about.

Hikaru quickly moved to the desk next to her, but he was caught by the ever watchful eye of the teacher–_again. _He snorted, moving back to his original seat after the reprimand.

"You may talk about who you were assigned at the end of class, Hikaru.", he said, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Kaoru, please draw." Kaoru got up, moving fluidly towards the bucket and quickly drawing a strip before sitting back down. Hikaru leaned over in his desk as his twin opened it, frowning. "Oooh." They had clearly gotten an undesirable work partner, because both were frowning as they stared at it.

_Who?_, Haruhi mouthed, curious.

Kaoru handed the strip to Haruhi under the table; he had been assigned to partner up with Nekozawa-kun. She shrugged, casting him a sympathetic glance before handing the paper back under the desk, along with hers so that they could see who she had gotten.

She watched Hikaru's eyebrows rise sharply; apparently he had jsut finished reading it. He turned to look at her, mouthing, _really? _Haruhi nodded, and Hikaru passed it back to her. He mouthed something else, too, but she didn't catch it. She'd have to ask him later...

Hikaru was called after two more students, and returned smiling mildly. He held up the strip: Tamaki-Senpai was going to be his partner. She heard Kaoru murmur something about trading under his breath, but Hikaru just shook his head. there was no way that, even if it was allowed, anybody would trade with the fellow that wound up with Nekozawa.

The bell rang, and Haruhi had to admit that the last class of the day had passed much sooner than she had thought that it would. The teacher called something at the trio as they left the door, but at the moment they were more intent on leaving so that they could talk about who they had gotten than anything he had to say.

"Lucky.", Kaoru said, grimacing. Nekozawa-Kun wasn't exactly a very..._desirable _work partner, seeing as his group had to work in a closet of some sort or at least in the dark, making it nearly impossible to see where you were writing or coloring on your poster or whatever it was you were doing.

"Haruhi's going to get the highest grade in the class.", Hikaru said, grinning, "She's got _Kyoya_ as her partner. You should make him do all the work, you know."

She would get a high grade, she was already pretty sure of that. Seeing as two intelligent people were working on it, the project would surely be a success.

"Really.", Kaoru said, smiling, "Besides, it's the wives that sit back and relax these days, anyway."

_Wives? Where did that come from? _Haruhi raised an eyebrow, and Kaoru quickly explained.

"In reality check you're playing a married couple. You didn't know that?"

"No. No I didn't.", she said blankly. Well, this would make things a lot more awkward...


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Thank you guys so much for your patronage! I wasn't sure how this would be supported, but apparently people like the idea, so Snow shall continue writing! Also, if you enjoy Bleach, I have to do some shameless self advertising here. **

**Check out my forums and take a look at the one about bleach--I would give the link, but the stories SPAZ if you do...**

**NOTE, 5/10-Yay, I edited this chapter, too..**

_Kyoya's wife?! _She sighed as they walked into the music room, preparing to explain. She could already hear Tamaki freaking out in the back of her mind, and the mental image of him in his emo corner, _again_, came to mind very quickly. Quite frankly, she wondered why somebody hadn't taped him face first into it yet—it would work...

She opened her mouth to start, but before she could say anything Hikaru began to explain what was going he finished, he told them the last bit. "Kyoya, your partner will be Haruhi in the reality check program. Tamaki, I will be working with you. Kaoru got assigned _Nekozawa-kun._" He emphasized on the other first year's name with a hint of dislike in his tone.

Upon hearing that Kyoya and Haruhi were partnered, Tamaki's jaw dropped and his eyes widened. His head whipped back and forth from Kyoya and Haruhi, wordless. Kyoya just raised an eyebrow, silent and altogether not seeming that interested in what was going on. Tamaki, however, had apparently suddenly regained his ability to speak, because now he was moving his arms up and down frantically. Stage one of the Tamaki breakdown.

"But—but–But she's daddy's girl! Mom can take care of somebody else! It's not fair! We have to swap cards! I bet Haruhi's crying inside, on the verge of breaking down!" As of right now, he was flailing his limbs even more frantically and looked sort of like a cat that had drank toilet cleaner. Stage two of the Tamaki breakdown, stuttering.

Stage three of the Tamaki breakdown. Now he was in the corner, slowly rocking back and forth and murmuring things under his breath. Kyoya didn't bother to watch, just took another sip of his coffee–the rest of the host club ignored Tamaki, too. The best way to help him when he got like this was to simply pretend he wasn't there; otherwise it would be dumping oil on the fire. Eventually he'd get tired of the corner and go back to normal twenty to thirty minutes later.

Hikaru plopped down on the couch next to Kyoya, leaning towards him. "So, where's the wedding going to be? Of course, Kaoru and I can get you guys booked for Cancun if you'd like, but we're also open for suggestions if you have any.." He was clearly trying to be irritating as he not uncommonly did.

Kyoya seemed to ignore what they were saying as he pulled something out of his shirt pocket before handing it to Haruhi. "I believe you forgot these, Fujioka." Her glasses! Geez, she had almost forgotten about them! She took them, carefully putting them back on her rather flushed face before thanking him. Kyoya nodded, to her relief saying nothing further.

"Tamaki, please set out from under the couch.", Kyoya suddenly said, staring at the area behind his ankles. "We can see your finger tips coming out from the side." Haruhi raised an eyebrow, slightly alarmed. How had he fit under the couch? Apparently he had a skeleton like a mouse or something, because sure enough, he came crawling out from under the couch. Like she had said, the bet treatment for a Tamaki-Breakdown was simply a lack of treatment. He sat down on the couch next to Kaoru, making things a little bit cramped but managing.

"Dad's going to make sure that you don't make any mistakes on this project, don't worry.", He said, smiling and ruffling Hikaru's hair, much to the twin's annoyance. Hikaru turned to Kaoru, mouthing, _Wanna trade? _His twin just shook his head, smiling, much as Hikaru had in class.

As for Kyoya, though, in the time that they had been discussing, he had produced a sheet of paper and a calculator, along with two pens. _Well, looks like at the very least he's prepared_, Haruhi thought.

"Grocery costs today are about one hundred dollars a person, per month.", Kyoya said, scrawling down the number, "And household supplies add another fifty." Haruhi leaned closer so that she could see, noticing that Tamaki and the twins were leaving, bored with project-related discussion and craving gossip or something of the like.

"You can go ahead and sit next to me, Haruhi.", he said, not looking up from the calculator as he gestured to the couch, "Hikaru is no longer sitting there."

Haruhi smiled, a bit embarrassed, as she sat down on the couch next to him., Kyoya, however, seemed to have no problem with it whatsoever. Right now, he seemed to be fully absorbed in the project, and for that, she was grateful—he was the only member of the host club, besides Mori and Hunny, that didn't constantly chase her around, which could make being alone a bit awkward.

"Lighting would be about two hundred.", she said, scribbling it down on the sheet of paper, "And water's getting rather cheap nowadays." She scribbled down another figure.

"Yes, water is getting cheaper. So's electricity. Internet's about twenty dollars, and healthcare's about two hundred these days." He wrote it down and took a moment to punch all of the values into the calculator. "So far, the total's about seven hundred and twenty, plus the cost of a home." He set the calculator down for a moment, thinking.

"Childcare.", Haruhi added, "If both parents work, childcare's about two hundred." She had been trying to avoid said topic for as long as possible, but right now it seemed as if there was no way to avoid it.

"Childcare?" Kyoya looked up at her, raising an eyebrow, surprised. Apparently hadn't told his class that part.

"Part of the assignment is that each husband-wife couple has a child, so that we know how much it costs to have a child in the home.", she explained, avoiding his gaze.

"Ah." Kyoya nodded, adding in the other number. "Now our total's about nine hundred and twenty. Anything else you can think of?", he asked her. She was grateful that, unlike some others she knew, he seemed to have the capability to say such thinks without becoming hysterical with laughter.

"Not really." There was a sense of awkwardness in the air again as both partners were silent.

"We sit in on the class tomorrow, right?", Kyoya asked her, putting the calculator and paper back in the desk against one of the walls and then getting his drink from one of the fancy coasters that it had been set on.

"Yep. Yoshima said to bring a calculator and paper.", Haruhi confirmed, smiling and nodding as she got up.

"Alright. See you tomorrow, then, I've got some things to do.", Kyoya said, turning and heading out the door.

"See you.", she called, heading to get her bike from the front of the school. Well, this had worked out better than she had thought it would...


	3. Chapter 3

1**Author's Note: Yay! Two chapters in a day...Once more, I thank you guys for the reviews. They are my life support! I have found that this story is particularly fun for me to write...** **Also, cxheck out my forums! Right now there is an ouran roleplay and we're filling up characters. As of right now, Mori, Kyoya, and Nekozawa are taken, but Haruhi and the others are still available. Yes, even Bossa Nova kun.**

"You're kidding me." Such was the response of Hikaru when he sat down after retrieving his occupation from the bucket. He turned to Haruhi. "I'm a PLUMBER. I get 34,000 a year. A _year!_" He flailed his arms briefly for emphasis. However, Haruhi wasn't that shocked. Coming from a family of average wealth, the figure wasn't really that startling at all. At least, not to her standards. However, to most of the students at Ouran, it was horrifying.

She had already drawn her occupation; she was a pizza delivery person with one child, and Kyoya, whom was sitting across from her, was a camera operator. Their total monthly salary was, in all, a little bit above 2,000–not that bad, at least in her opinion.

Speaking of which, Kaoru and Nekozawa were both automechanics, and had one child. She wasn't exactly sure how that was possible, but she had decided that she would have rather left it undecided in the back of her mind to become forgotten that ask one of the science teachers about it, for fear of finding out some freaky fact that she really didn't want to hear.

Sensei Yoshima had sat back down at his desk, allowing for project related conversation. Kyoya got up and moved to the desk next to her, producing the budget they had made the previous day from his shirt pocket and unfolding it. Haruhi leaned over to look at it, everything fit into their monthly salary so far.

"We need to fill this out.", he said, producing the blue folder that they had been given at the beginning of the class. Haruhi took it, fingering through the papers until she found the first sheet (the folder was rather unorganized). She grabbed a pen and began to scribble in the details, such as their names, occupations, and number of children. However, then she reached a blank she would need help filling in.

"Kyoya, what should we name the kid?" Haruhi nearly said 'our child', but went with a different phrase to avoid the growing awkward sensation that she had felt the first day of the project.

"I say Suki.", he said, shrugging, "It's a nice name."

"Maybe Rei?", she asked, raising an eyebrow. Suki wasn't exactl her favorite name in the world, it had a rather unpleasant ring to it in her opinion.

"Rei's too—eh.", he said, seeming to search for the right word for a moment before deciding to use a sound instead.

"I don't think it's that bad...", she said, blinking, "I've known plenty of Reis."

"That's the problem. It's bland—too common.", He said, glancing at the paper.

"Suki's common, too.", she pointed out.

"Not as common as Rei.", he countered, "I say Suki."

"Alright, Suki.", she reluctantly agreed, writing the name down on the sheet of paper. "So..."

"I think we're done until we go to the live activity.", Kyoya said, taking the paper and putting it back into the folder. "Until then, I guess we just relax."

Haruhi shrugged again. "That works." She was quiet for a moment, trying to think of something, anything, to say.

Luckily, though, there was no need to, seeing at that moment Nekozawa-Kun strokked in, his head bowed and his normal green wig hanging over his eyes. Apparently, not even their treatment during the Kirimi incident had been enough to make him act semi-normal. Oh well. She saw Kaoru cast her a desperate glance before he got up and joined his partner in the closet at the back of the room.

Haruhi held back a smile as she saw Kyoya's head whip around in alarm, almost fast enough to give him whiplash. Nekozawa stopped, raising an eyebrow before continuing to walk to the unlit portion of the room. Come to think of it, that green wig didn't look that bad on him. In fact, it was rather...attractive. Yes, more than rather attractive. And such was the decision that was made subconsciously in the back of her head in a split second.

"Haruhi." Kyoya elbowed her, bringing her attention back to right here and right now instead of the side of Nekozawa-kun's head. She felt her face flush as she met his eyes, desperately wishing that it wouldn't. However, it betrayed her and the red continued to spread to her ears.

"Yeah?", she asked, feeling her composure quickly becoming regained. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hikaru raise an eyebrow with a bewildered expression, mouthing, _what was that about? _She knew she'd hear more about this later, that was for sure.

"I was wondering if you'd like to go and stray around the school for a bit? I can get us both out of class if you'd like..." For the first time since she had met him, Kyoya seemed a bit tentative, almost as if he was unsure of what he was doing. Haruhi shrugged.

"That sounds okay.", she said, smiling. Kyoya smiled back, retrieving a pass of some sort from his wallet and getting out of his seat. Haruhi got up and followed him, and Mr. Yoshima just smiled and nodded as they left the room and headed down the hall, walking side by side.

"So...Anything major going on recently?", Kyoya asked after a moment of hesitation. Was he...being shy? No, this was Kyoya. Calculating Kyoya who always had everything in his grasp.

"Not that I can think of. Going to the commoner's mall, buying commoner's clothes...", she joked, smiling. Kyoya smiled back, shrugging.

"Because commoners have such exquisite taste." They both laughed for a moment, and Haruhi wished that the air in the hallway could go on like this forever. "So, where exactly are we going?", she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Can't you tell?", he asked, "Nowhere. Everywhere, somewhere." Haruhi smirked, even though nothing was that funny. Was he _flirting _with her?

**And I leave you hanging...Because...I'M EVIL! Yes, yes, EVIL! Kyo got jealous...XD I thank you all for your reviews. They are so wonderful....**


	4. Chapter 4

**The flirting scenes I write SUCK, I know. Which is why this one is short, because I fear messing up things.** **By the way, the popcorn is symbolism... Also, short chapter is short. I had nothing to write and had writer's block...**

Apparently, he was. Haruhi came to the conclusion rather quickly, mentally noting the fact that he wasn't being very bold about it. Just grooming, doing the little things that she would hardly notice..

And such was the technique not uncommonly used by those like Kyoya. She wasn't exactly the type to constantly flirt, but she did know one or two things about what kind of tactics different guys would use–Kyoya had apparently chosen the 'subliminal' technique, using little compliments to slowly—no, she was overanalyzing this. Why couldn't she just be happy with this?

He leaned against the window, resting one arm on the window pane. Haruhi was suddenly struck by something she couldn't describe. The way that the light stuck his features, causing that black hair to gently fall over his eyes, the way that he moved his glasses forward with two fingers when he spoke–it was all so very attractive. Forget Nekozawa-kun. For this entire time she'd been around him, and only now had she truly noticed him...

"Haruhi? Snap out of it, you look like you're dead.", he said, smiling and shrugging, "But if you must die, please do so in the corner of the room, not the middle of the hallway. You'll distract the other first years."

"I'm not dying just yet.", she said, shrugging back and glancing briefly at her watch–almost time for the bell to ring.

"Guess I'll have to reschedule those plans, then..", he murmured quietly, still smiling. Haruhi began to speak, but was quickly cut off by the sound of the bell ringing and the chatter of the students of Ouran as they left their classes for the day. It was a bit late, at least that was what her watch was telling her. However, she knew to read her watch as if it was fifteen minutes behind, seeing as it was really fifteen minutes ahead.

"I've got to go.", she said, turning to get her bike from the front of the school, "See you." She would have normally stayed after school ,but today she had a doctor's appointment in two or three hours.

"Yeah, see you." Kyoya waved before turning and moving down the hallway that led to the music room.

...

Haruhi's mind was spinning as she biked down the street, and almost all of it was due to new developments of the relationship she and Kyoya shared. Was it just casual flirting, or did he actually mean something by it? She shook her head. She should probably be focusing on the road, not on what had happened earlier that day. After all, she'd have _plenty _of time and _then some _to stop and think if she got a bicycle flat because she wasn't watching where she was going.

She stopped the bike in front of the apartment complex and dug her keys out from her pocket, reaching forward and unlocking the door. Her father wouldn't be home for another twenty minutes, so she'd have some time to unwind and think a bit or watch something on T. she had to start biking to the docor's. Haruhi reached into the closet, grabbing a miniature bag of popcorn and scanning over the directions on the back. Put in for two minutes, let cool, nothing that she didn't already know.

She put the popcorn into the microwave, setting it for two minutes and thirty seconds instead of two–their microwave was an older, less powerful model, so it took longer to cook things than it would in a new one. Still, it worked and that was what mattered.

_Pop. _The popcorn began to cook after being in for about fifteen minutes, and Haruhi glanced at the clock. She would have to take the subway to get to the hospital, and could probably eat the popcorn there if she didn't finish it in time to fit with the tight schedule she had to work with. _Pop, pop. _She wished she didn't have the appointment, seeing as she had kind of been looking forward to the day at the host club after a rather boring afternoon. _Pop, pop, pop. _Or at least, maybe she wanted to go to the host club again to see Kyoya...._again. _The mere though of him made her face flush, and she felt...jittery inside, sort of like how adults always described it. _Pop....pop...sssss...._She was suddenly brought back to attention by the strong scent of burnt food. Once more, she had underestimated their microwave, and it had burnt the popcorn to the point of it being able to make a goat gag. Not pleasant.

She pressed the open button on the microwave, and immediately the stench filled the entire room and became more concentrated. She put a hand to her nose, putting the other hand in a kitchen mitt and holding the smoking bag from the side as she took it to the outdoors garbage can.

Well, there goes having popcorn...Ah! She was late! How could she have forgotten that her watch was fifteen minutes slow?! She mentally chided herself, jumping onto her bike and pedaling down the street as fast as she could. Gosh, she had to be more alert!


End file.
